Dr. Alexander Walton
Assistant Professor, Ecology
Education
- PhD, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Iowa State University
- BA, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona
Postdoctoral research
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta
- Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University
Research interests
- Understanding how nutrition and physiological state regulate cooperative and aggressive behaviors in social insects, with an emphasis on the ecological and evolutionary consequences of these interactions in bees and wasps.
- Investigating how environmental stressors鈥攊ncluding climate change, winter severity, and wildfire smoke鈥攁ffect social insect behavior, communication, and overwintering survival, especially in northern ecosystems.
Selected Publications:
- Walton A., Herman J.J., and Rueppell O. (2024) 鈥淪ocial life results in social stress protection: A novel concept to explain individual life history patterns in social insects.鈥� Biological Reviews, 99(4), 1444-1457.
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Tumulty J.P., Miller S.E., Van Belleghem S.M., Weller H.I., Jernigan C.M., Vincent S., Staudenraus R.J., Legan A.W., Polnaszek T.J., Uy F.M.K., Walton A., and Sheehan, M. J. (2023) 鈥淓vidence for a selective link between cooperation and individual recognition.鈥澨�Current Biology,听33(24), 5478-5487.
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Walton A. and Toth A.L. (2023) 鈥淣utritional inequalities structure worker division of labor in social insects.鈥� Current Opinion in Insect Science,101059.
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Walton A., Flores E., Guinness A., Fortune R., Sheehan M.J., and Toth A.L. (2023) 鈥淎 practical approach to RNA-interference for studying gene function in a refractory social insect (on a limited budget).鈥� Insectes Sociaux, 70, 213-224.
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Walton A. and Toth A.L. (2021) 鈥淩esource limitation, intra-group aggression, and brain neuropeptide expression in a social wasp.鈥� Functional Ecology, 35.10, 2241-2252. 听
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Walton A., Toth A.L., and Dolezal A.G. (2021) 鈥淒evelopmental environment shapes honey bee worker response to virus infection.鈥� Scientific Reports, 11(1), 13961.
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Walton A., Sheehan M.J., and Toth A.L. (2020). 鈥淕oing wild for functional genomics: RNA interference as a tool to study gene-behavior associations in diverse species and ecological contexts.鈥澨�Hormones and Behavior,听124, 104774.
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Walton A., Tumulty J.P., Toth A.L., and Sheehan M.J. (2020) 鈥淗ormonal modulation of reproduction in Polistes fuscatus social wasps: dual functions in both ovary development and sexual receptivity.鈥� Journal of Insect Physiology, 120, 103972.
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Walton A., Jandt J.M., and Dornhaus A. (2019) 鈥淕uard bees are more likely to act as undertakers: variation in corpse removal in the bumble bee Bombus impatiens.鈥� Insectes Sociaux,听66(4), 533-541.
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Walton A., Dolezal A.G., Bakken M.A., and Toth A.L. (2018) 鈥淗ungry for the Queen: Nutritional environment affects a honey bee worker’s response to queen pheromone鈥�. Functional Ecology, 35(10), 2241-2252.
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Walton A. and Toth. A.L. (2016) 鈥淰ariation in individual worker honey bee behavior shows hallmarks of personality.鈥� Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology,听70, 999-1010.